Gardner girl suffering from rare cancer

Saturday

Dec 28, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

GARDNER — Merissa N. Dube wouldn't have thought in a million years that just a year after her close friend died at age 24 from Ewing's Sarcoma, doctors would diagnose her 10-year-old daughter Madison E. Dube with the same rare cancer.

The 30-year-old hairdresser's longtime family friend, Corey Strazdas from Winchendon, was one of the 300 cases a year diagnosed in the United States.

Mr. Strazdas was diagnosed in July 2011 and died Nov. 24, 2012, despite having had his left leg amputated to remove the tumor that grew like a doughnut around the outside of his femur, Ms. Dube said.

"I was very close to him," she said. "The survival rate is 70 to 75 percent, and they say if you get an amputation, it could save your life, but it still metastasized."

Now, she is dealing with the same cancer with daughter "Maddie," an active, bubbly fifth-grade Pop Warner cheerleader at Elm Street School.

After Maddie complained of muscle pain near the inside of her right knee, Ms. Dube took her to a pediatric doctor specializing in sports medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for an X-ray. Subsequently, two MRIs were ordered that indicated Maddie had some sort of cyst or tumor below the area of pain, Ms. Dube said. On Nov. 26, after a biopsy Nov. 20, Ms. Dube said she received a call that there was a tumor inside 2 inches of Maddie's right tibia. Maddie had Ewing's Sarcoma.

"She'll have eight months of chemo to shrink the tumor," Ms. Dube said. "This particular cancer doesn't have stages. It is either localized or metastasized. It is not in other parts of her body. This was by accident that we found it in the early stages. Usually when it is found, it is already outside the bone. Once it is outside, it most likely is metastasized."

Though it is an aggressive cancer and the cells could escape the tumor in Maddie's tibia at any point, Ms. Dube is optimistic the chemotherapy will reduce the size of the tumor enough that doctors can give Maddie radiation treatments and then surgery to remove all of her cancer.

"I bet when they look at it again, it won't even be there," Maddie said to her mom. "I hope so."

Maddie said she is "feeling good," but she is sad she has to go through chemo. Two weeks after her first treatment, she lost a lot of her hair, she said.

"It was really hard when I figured out I had Ewing's," Maddie said. "It is was so hard. But, I want other kids who are going through it to know that even though it is hard, you have to fight through it and stay fierce and it doesn't change who you are. Never give up."

Maddie and her mom are preparing for five days in Boston next week for her next treatment, Ms. Dube said.

She and Maddie have the support of her fiancé, Robert J. Daneault, and his 12-year-old son, Seth P. Daneault, she said.

"They have both been in Maddie's life for six years and especially now, they stand by her side and support her in any way they possibly can," she said.

Ms. Dube said she is not sure when Maddie can start exercising again.

"She hasn't been able to," said Ms. Dube, who is head coach of her daughter's Pee Wee Pop Warner cheering squad, the North County Panthers. "Her last day of cheering was the last week of October. That is when she started feeling pain in her leg. We have no approval from the orthopedic pediatrician she can exercise, yet. I don't think she can cheer until fall, if she can at all. She has chemo until August."

Tiffany R. Comeau, cheer coordinator for the North County Panthers, lives across the street from Ms. Dube and has known Maddie since she was a baby.

"Maddie loves cheering — she has worn the team's colors since she was 6 years old," Ms. Comeau said. "She was the lead flyer and we had to take her out.

"Merissa is an extremely strong person," she added. "To hear what happened, and we thought is was just a simple injury…She is a single mom and she is there for Maddie every step of the way."

Ms. Comeau described Maddie as a spunky child with a "spirit that lights up a room."

"You walk through life thinking this will never happen to you and when it happens so close to home you want to help," she said. "You instantly grab your kids and hold them tighter and want to help as much as possible. It's definitely going to be a long road. It is really hard to squeeze work in when she just needs to be the mom."

Ms. Comeua said the community has joined together to plan the Three Cheers for Maddie benefit today from 7 to 11 p.m. at Hidden Hills Banquet Facility, 18 Lisa Drive, Rindge, N.H. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $3 for children and $5 for adults at the door. There will be a DJ, refreshments and numerous raffles including for Celtics, Bruins and Patriots tickets.

There is also a Pennies for Maddie fund at TD Bank. Donations can be made at any TD Bank branch or by mail to: Pennies for Maddie, c/o TD Bank, 470 Main St., Fitchburg, MA 01420.

For more information, visit Maddie Be Strong on Facebook.

Contact Paula Owen at paula.owen@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaOwenTG.